1. Embryonic mortality and reproductive performance were studied in 150 mature Merino ewes, groups of which were restricted to approximately 15% of their maintenance requirement from days 0to7 (group 1), 6to13 (group 3) and 13to20 (group 4) respectively. Groups 2and5 were controls. Ovulation point counts, returns to service, pregnancy test by laparotomy at day 40 and lambing performance were used to assess and apportion the embryonic loss.

1. Balance experiments, in which urine was collected by a catheter inserted into the bladder, were carried out on four lactating ewes on two diets of fresh spring herbage and on one of hay plus cake, and the metabolism of magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium were studied.

Eight flushing experiments were conducted with grazing sheep over a 4-year period, the responses being measured at lambing. In the first 2 years mobs of 600-750 ewes were employed. Those experiments were designed to separate, identify and measure the two components postulated as comprising the flushing response—a static live-weight effect not specifically related in time to the mating period, and a dynamic effect of the rising or falling body condition which is specific to the mating period.

1. Diallel crosses between six inbred lines of winter beans, the selfed parent lines and two commercial varieties were grown in a field trial in two years and records made of yield, number of steins, podded nodes, pods, weight of seed, plant height and width and flowering date. From these data four quotients representing components of yield were obtained.

1. The potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus contents of the grass and clover fractions of a perennial rye-grass and white clover sward were determined at each of five cuts taken between May and October in 1962 and 1963.

Skin thickness was measured in Sahiwal and Jersey cows in early spring and early summer.

Differences between breeds were significant at each season, Sahiwals always having the thickest skins. Seasonal variation in skin thickness was also significant, animals of both breeds having thicker skins in early spring than early summer. No relationship was apparent between body weight and skin thickness.

1. A method of conducting accurate walking trials with small numbers of cattle is described. Using the method, a comparative study has been made of the walking abilities of Hereford and Santa Gertrudis heifers during exposure to moderate heat stress in the field. During any one day, animals were subjected to enforced exercise for four sessions of 1 hr. each between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at either 1⅔ or 2⅔ m.p.h.

Ninety-seven Awassi ewes were included in three experiments. The ewes were milked twice daily, and also suckled lambs. Three different suckling regimes (12 hours per day, 4hr. and residual milk only) and three weaning times after lambing were compared.

The majority of Awassi flocks in Israel and throughout the Middle East are kept under primitive extensive conditions. Their main product is the lamb, and milk as a by-product is gained occasionally after weaning. A few estimates of the milk yields of these sheep may be found in the literature (Hirsh, 1931; Finci, 1957; Becker, 1958), however, none are based on actual measurements.

1. Three experiments were carried out on 112 Awassi lambs of both sexes, born as singles. During the first 8 or 9 weeks of their life they sucked an average of 78, 108, 53 and 50 kg. of milk per head for 12 hr. per day sucklings in a medium producing flock and 12 hr., 4 hr. and residual sucklings in a high producing flock, respectively.

The blood ketone body response to butyrate (2-5mM. butyrate/kg.) and glucose tolerance (1.25 mM. glucose/kg.) were studied in lambs as a function of age. Ketonemias produced by butyrate increased with age. This finding is compatible with an increased mass of ketone body synthesizing tissue, and by an increased activity per unit of tissue weight. In the period shortly after birth, blood glucose levels and glucose tolerance were high, but both of these measurements declined with increasing age and associated development of rumen function.

The nutritive evaluation of range forages often is limited by the size of the forage sample available, by the difficulty of determining both the quantity and quality of the forage eaten, and by the labour and other costs of making total faecal collections in digestion trials under range conditions. Microdigestion techniques utilizing either the nylon bag in the rumen (hereafter referred to as nylon bag in vivo) and artificial rumen techniques (hereafter referred to as in vitro) have been reviewed by Annison & Lewis (1959), Barnett & Reid (1961), and Johnson (1963). Forage evaluation could be greatly simplified if such microdigestion techniques could be utilized under range conditions. Following preliminary studies (Van Dyne, 1962), the research reported in this paper was undertaken to evaluate these techniques under both range drylot conditions in studying the intake and digestion of forages. Other aspects of these trials are reported elsewhere (Van Dyne & Weir, 1964; Van Dyne & Meyer, 1964; Van Dyne & Lofgreen, 1964; Van Dyne & Heady, 1965a, b).

A screening technique is described for determining the resistance of seedling cereal plants to Cercosporella herpotrichoides by observing the rate of penetration of successive leaf-sheaths by the pathogen pathogen growing from an artificially colonized 'cylinder' of straw placed over the emerging coleoptile.

1. A small-scale plot experiment was conducted at the Hannah Institute for the 3-year period 1963–65, to study the comparative effect of applications of various mixtures of dung and urine (slurry treatments) on the yield and quality of an established S23 ryegrass and S100 white clover sward.

1. In glasshouse experiments, apterous and alate Myzus persicae Sulz. and Aphis fabae Scop, settled more readily on some sugar-beet plants than on others.